Cannes: Thierry Fremaux Says Fest "Will Never Be the Same" After Weinstein "Earthquake"

The first festival in recent years without the disgraced mogul only has three female-directed films in the official competition, but Fremaux compares one to 'Black Panther.'

Artistic director Thierry Fremaux on Thursday discussed his first Cannes Film Festival without disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein, describing it as an "earthquake" moment for the industry.

"The world will never be the same again, the Cannes Film Festival will never be the same again," he said, adding that the movement sparked by the allegations against Weinstein had also caused an internal evaluation by the festival itself.

"We will discuss our own practices with the festival team," he said, pointing out that there were more women now working for the event. "We will discuss equality of salary, we want to question our own process about the parity of the juries."

Fremaux noted that women headed the official competition and Golden Camera juries, in Cate Blanchett and Ursula Meier, respectively.

Speaking at the press conference following the announcement of the film festival’s official selection, Fremaux answered questions about the lack of women in the lineup, offering his usual reply that the festival has to deal with the titles that are being submitted.

"But there are three female movie-makers in competition," he said, pointing to Nadine Labaki, Alice Rohrwacher and Eva Husson, but adding that there "may be four" following late additions that are expected.

Fremaux compared Husson’s film, Girls of the Sun, about a battalion of female Kurdish troops and starring Golshifteh Farahani and Julie Delpy, to Black Panther, in breaking new cultural ground. "It's like a hallelujah," he said. "My feeling is that this film is something rather new."